No Place for No Hero
by Opera Ghost Kid
Summary: Series of drabbles. DCU/DCAU/anything DC. Characters not just the two listed. 4: Damian meets Terry. Again.
1. To Die

Disclaimer: DC characters property of DC Comics.

a/n: housing a series of drabbles with no definite end/continuance. Ideas and scenes which pop in but I can't find to put in any other storyline. I know I put the characters Batman and Wonder Woman in the description, and that does apply to a bunch of the first few drabbles, but hopefully I'll be touching on other characters in the DC world as well. Hope you guys enjoy! R&R, comments and ideas are always welcome (:

**_No Place for No Hero_**

**1. To Die**.  
>(DCU, post-Sacrifice storyline)<p>

The cave blistered as Bruce's glare cut into the ground, the earth. His eyes were shadowed, pupils cloaked away from her. Diana could only flinch. Even invisible, they spoke the ominous words: Murderer. Cold, righteous, so righteous as he sat there, pointedly ignoring her gaze.

She understood. All the same, she wanted to cry, "I did it for you, and Clark, you stubborn man. I did it for _you_". But she was Amazonian. She had made a tactical decision. It would not do to retract that now. Maxwell Lord had to be killed. It was a war he had waged on two of the men closest to her.

Two she had alienated. She glanced up and this time their eyes met. He held the gaze, painfully impassive. She mumbled something, it sounded foreign. Throat refused to work.

She had killed for him.

As she walked away, back retreating from him, Bruce allowed his head to droop again, hearing his own breathing, no longer pained and laboured, almost wishing it was still so. She'd killed for him. He would've died for her. But she had killed, for him. As despicable as Maxwell Lord was, as insane, it did not matter. Bruce was the motive. Bruce was the cause.

Bruce had murdered too.


	2. The Warlock

a/n: probably veering into crackfic mode. you have my sincere apologies.

**2. The Warlock.**  
>(JLU)<p>

"Oi, trust me on this one, kid, you'll love it!"

"Are you sure Batman allowed you down here?" said Tim as he pursed his lips in bemusement. The Flash in the meantime had commandeered control of the Bat-computer and was typing away into a search menu.

"Hey, go easy on me. If Ole Bats can search up Hawkgirl webrings, I figure I can do this. Call it expanding your mind, little one. Here." He gave a final tap on the keyboard.

Five minutes later and Tim's eyes were glued to the screen.

Batman had just come back from the Watchtower. There was a case leading into Gotham, and J'onn had insisted on one of the core following along, to preserve his secret identity, should he require changing into it. The last time, it had been Diana. Now, only the Flash was available, and all the disastrous consequences that entailed. Batman sneered at J'onn's consideration, and his unfortunate, developing sense of humour.

Speaking of humour, there was laughter in the cave. Robin. Hysterical, uncontrolled, gasps of riotous laughter. Batman stiffened, hands immediately darting to the spare Joker toxin he kept on hand as he rushed down the cave steps. No, how did the Joker manage to get in? He'd upped the security since the Thanagarian invasion - with Shayera's help, incidentally. And Barbara was on patrol tonight with Dick. Stupid, he should have never left the boy by himself, and Alfred, was he incapacitated too?

He crouched at the corner of the corridor, before it opened out into the expanse of the cave, and calmed himself, slipping on a gas mask as he did so, just in case. He peered around the corner, expecting the worst.

Only to find two shadows laughing uproariously at a paused cartoon on the screen. The Flash. And his protege.

"Aww, man, too funny! What is this?"

"Dude, does Bruce keep you under lock and key or what? I'll open up whole new worlds for you, little chum." The Flash was slapping his thighs as he kept doubled over from laughing. Robin fared no better.

"Wally."

Wally West seemed oblivious to the warning edge in Batman's tone. Robin, for his part, had sobered with such dramatic speed it was a wonder his face didn't get whiplash. "C'mon Bats, you've never seen this before! Richard the Warlock. Brilliant stuff." He reached for the play button again, "hold on, I'll just give you the last bit."

A refrain of 'Slaughter Your World' came floating through the Batcave, resulting in Wally's bursting into giggles again. A ridiculous cartooned figure cloaked and... _singing_, while causing rampant destruction seemed the cause of Wally West's laughing fit. Batman's brow began to twitch, as his lips narrowed into a singular line of not-impressed. He stalked towards the Speedster who had thrown his arms open and shook his fists in mock dramatics. "I am Richard the Warlock!" He stopped abruptly when he realised that Batman was now breathing down his face, an inch away from him.

"And I'm Batman." The growl emitted from beneath the cowl, eliciting a sheepish grin from the Flash, before his eyes lit up again.

"Heeeyyy... that's a great video series too, you wanna see?"


	3. The Vote

**3. The Vote**  
>(JL, Starcrossed) 300 words:<p>

He'd called the vote. He watched as John Stewart excused himself, as the ex-Marine and current Green Lantern Corp member stalked past the door and shut it with a barely audible click. The man had barely been able to restrain himself.

Now, the rest.

Diana voted 'no' almost immediately. Flash equally quick to cast his 'yes' vote. Sentimental. All of them. Still too raw. J'onn J'onnz's eyes glowed faintly, before uttering a soft 'yes'.

Batman watched as both Diana and Superman flinched. Diana's eyes now flickered between and past each person round the table. He noticed the slight desperation behind Diana's infuriated glare. Clark, the buffoon, seemed about to open his mouth. Batman beat him to it.

"No," he said, letting the syllable fall to the floor, sink its weight into the carpet. Clark raised his eyes to him, and he held his stare through the cowl, almost feeling the Kryptonian's mind squirm. Wally sank further into his chair, mouth agape, mercifully silent.

Yes, Clark. Choose.

Superman's face cleared. He smiled, and with a voice much lighter than it had been five minutes ago, said, "Yes."

They called John in. They sent for Shayera.

* * *

><p>After Shayera had left, Diana had disappeared with such speed that Bruce almost wanted to blink to be sure. He gave another pointed look to Superman, before swishing his cape after him as he moved towards the exit.<p>

_That was... admirably tactical,_a voice sounded in his head. The Martian.

_Clark had to be the one to make that decision._ Batman bit out, even as he considered which corridor she had decided to flee to once he reached the main hallway. _Excuse me for not **alienating** another member._ He paused, then, _I'm sure you'll understand._He couldn't help it.

_And get out of my head._


	4. Meeting McGinnis

**4. Meeting McGinnis**

(#700 + AU?)

It was your average break in. At least, that was how it looked. It wasn't till he saw that boy that he realised they'd crossed paths before. Confirmed when he saw the names on the envelopes placed on the kitchen counter. Once, many years ago. Almost fifteen. He had a brother now, judging from the photos on the mantelpiece.

The parents had been gunned down. Mercifully, the younger had been at a birthday party. Was there now. The elder, not so lucky. Arrived back after a fight with the parental in time to see two men in Joker masks sneaking round the vicinity.. A new emerging gang from an old foe. Had his mother's lips, the boy.

The police had left, for now. His luck, Damian figured. He could do without Barbara.

The boy looked up at his approach, his tear streaked face like so many faces Damian had seen. "My life's been poisoned by the Joker forever," he heard the boy mutter. Damian remained silent. Terry looked up at him, "They said you saved me once." There was a pause. "I wished you'd saved them."

Damian found himself drawn to the desperate anger bleeding through the boy's trembling fingers. Sweet Sixteen. Grayson had tried to make it passable for him. Enjoyable, even.

"I want revenge," he heard the boy say. "I want to make this right." Terry shook his head, "I should've been here."

He had saved the boy once. True. And Grayson had saved him once too, in a different way. He considered the boy. Thought of Grayson. He'd been younger, then. But something about this one… Damian shook himself internally, then reached into his trenchcoat. Pulled out a gun, lobbed it towards the boy. It landed in his lap, cold.

"I can help you," Damian said, voice scraping through the silence of the room for the first time. "Join me." Terry looked at the gun, hands barely clasping in, back at Damian, and back at the gun again. The boy's blue eyes hardened in the dark as he turned to gaze straight at Damian. The coldness was unnerving. He was reminded of his father. The boy chucked the pistol back, and Damian caught it with one hand.

"I'll join you," Terry said, coming to a decision, "but not this way." The boy stared through the darkness to where the bullets had left marks in the plaster, almost unseeingly. "I don't like guns," he said.

Damian's jaw clenched at words echoed from so long ago, and pocketed the gun.


End file.
